1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns improvements in and relating to monitoring of loss of material, particularly, but not exclusively, in relation to monitoring erosion through the use of field signature method based investigations and model based predictions of factors involved in such investigations.
2. Relevant Technology
The field signature method is based upon feeding a direct current through a location and measuring the electric field which is generated as a result using an array of electrical contacts on a surface of the location. Changes in the magnitude and shape of the electric field over time can provide significant information on corrosion occurring at the location.
Whilst variations in the voltage between one or more pairs of contacts over time are fairly well understood for linear pipelines and the like, the physical circumstances represented by variations in the voltage for one or more pairs of contacts in other configurations of the location under investigation are far less understood.